United Nations

Conference on
the Human
Environment
(1972)

United Nations
Conference on the
Humanconference
Environment
An international
convened by the
United Nations in Stockholm, Sweden from
June 5 16, 1972
Also known as the Stockholm Conference, it
was the first major conference on international
environmental issues
It also marked the beginning of modern
political and public awareness of global
environmental problems and international
environmental politics
Attended by the representatives of 113
countries, 19 inter-governmental agencies,
and more than 400 inter-governmental and

United Nations
Conference on the
Human Environment
Precursor to the 1992 United Nations Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Purpose: Not to discuss scientific or
technological approaches to environmental
problems but to coordinate international
policy.
The remarkable lack of divisiveness among
the participants to the conference was
manifested by the fact that a number of
resolutions were passed without a dissenting
vote.

United Nations
Conference on the
Human
Environment
One
of the important
result of the conference

was the precedent it set for international

cooperation in addressing environmental
degradation.
The nations attending agreed that they
shared responsibility for the quality of the
environment, particularly the oceans and the
atmosphere, and they signed a declaration of
principles, after extensive negotiations,
concerning their obligations.
Considered the need for a common outlook
and for common principles to inspire and
guide the peoples of the world in the
preservation and enhancement of the human

United Nations
Conference on the
Approval
of an environmental
fund and an action
Human
Environment

program, which involved 200 specific

recommendations for addressing such problems as
global climate change, marine pollution, population
growth, the dumping of toxic wastes, and the
preservation of biodiversity.
Paved the way for the creation of UNEP, a permanent
environmental unit that was established for
coordinating these and other international efforts on
behalf of the environment; UNEP was formally
approved by the General Assembly later that same
year and its base established in Nairobi, Kenya.
This organization has not only coordinated action but
monitored research, collecting and disseminating
information, and it has played an ongoing role in

United Nations
Conference on the
Human Environment

CRITICISMS

Women were not fully represented in the

conference (only 11 out of the 114 nations
have women representatives)
The official conference, though valuable, had
failed to address the subjects that were most
important to solving the current
environmental crisis, particularly poverty and
the so-called "ecologically sound ways of
producing goods."

Principles laid down by

United Nations
Conference on Human
Environment (UNCHE),
Stockholm 1972

Principle 1 Fundamental Rights

ofMan

Man has the fundamental right to freedom,

equality and adequate conditions of life, in an
environment of a quality that permits a life of
dignity and well-being, and he bears a solemn
responsibility to protect and improve the
environment for present and future
generations. In this respect, policies promoting
or perpetuating apartheid, racial segregation,
discrimination, colonial and other forms of
oppression andforeign domination stand
condemned and must be eliminated.

Principle 2 Protection
of Natural Resources
The natural resources of the earth,
including the air, water, land, flora and
fauna and especially representative
samples of natural ecosystems, must be
safeguarded for the benefit of present
and future generations through careful
planning ormanagement, as
appropriate. (Principle of
intergenerational equity)

Principle 3
Preservation &
Restoration
ofto produce
The
capacity of the earth
vital
renewable resources must be
Resources

maintained and, wherever practicable,

restored orimproved.

Principle 4
Preservation of Wildlife
Man has a special responsibility to
safeguard and wisely manage the
heritage of wildlife and its habitat, which
are now gravely imperiled by a
combination of adverse factors. Nature
conservation, including wildlife, must
therefore receive importance in planning
for economic development.

Principle 5
Sustainable use of
Non-renewable
The
non-renewable resources of the
earth must be employed in such a way
resources
as to guard against the danger of their
future exhaustion and to ensure that
benefits from such employment are
shared by all mankind.

Principle 6
Protection against
harmful
substances
The discharge of toxic substances or of
other substances and the release of heat,
in such quantities or concentrations as to
exceed the capacity of the environment to
render them harmless, must be halted in
order to ensure that serious or irreversible
damage is not inflicted upon ecosystems.
The just struggle of the peoples of ill
countries against pollution should be
supported.

Principle 7
Protection of sea
against
pollution
States shall take all possible steps to
preventpollution of the seas by substances
that areliable to create hazards to human
health, to harm living resources and marine
life, to damage amenities orto interfere
with other legitimate uses of the sea.

Principle 8 Support
of economic
andsocial
development

Economic and social development is

essential for ensuring a favorable living
and working environment for man and
for creating conditions on earth that are
necessary for the improvement of the
quality of life.

Principle 9 Financial
assistance towards
underdevelopment
Environmental deficiencies generated by the
andnatural
disasters
conditions
of under-development
and natural
disasters pose grave problems and can best
be remedied by accelerated development
through the transfer of substantial quantities
of financial and technological assistance as a
supplement to the domestic effort of the
developing countries andsuch timely
assistance as may be required.

Principle 10 - Stability
of prices and adequate
earnings for
developing nations

For the developing countries, stability of

prices and adequate earnings for primary
commodities and raw materials are essential
to environmental management, since
economic factors as well as ecological
processes must be taken into account.

Principle 11 Support
of economic
development vs
environmental

measures
The
environmental policies of all States should
enhance
and not adversely affect
the present
fordeveloping
nations
orfuture development potential of developing
countries, nor should they hamper the attainment
ofbetter living conditions for all, and appropriate
steps should be taken by States and international
organizations with a view to reaching agreement
on meeting the possible national and international
economic consequences resulting from

Principle 12
Resource allocation
forenvironmental
preservation for

developing
nations
Resources
should be made
available to preserve
and improve the environment, taking into account
the circumstances and particular requirements of
developing countries and any costs which may
emanate- from their incorporating environmental
safeguards into their development planning and
the need for making available to them, upon their
request, additional international technical and
financial assistance for this purpose.

Principle 13
Integrated & coordinated approachto
development for sake

environment
In
order to achieve a more rational management
of resources and thus to improve the
environment, States should adopt an integrated
and coordinated approach to their development
planning so as to ensure that development is
compatible with the need to protect and improve
environment for the benefit of their population.

Principle 14
Reconciling conflict
between development
& environment
Rational planning constitutes an essential tool for
reconciling any conflict between the needs
ofdevelopment and the need toprotect and
improve the environment.

Principle 15 Human
settlement &
Urbanization
Planning must be applied to human settlements
and urbanization with a view to avoiding adverse
effects on the environment and obtaining
maximum social, economic and environmental
benefits for all. In this respect projects which are
designed for colonialist and racist domination
must be abandoned.

Principle 16
Population & Policies

Demographic policies which are without prejudice

to basic human rights and which are deemed
appropriate by Governments concerned should be
applied in those regions where the rate
ofpopulation growth or excessive population
concentrations are likely to have adverse effects
on the environment of the human environment
andimpede development.

Principle 17 National
capacity building Institutions

Appropriate national institutions must be

entrusted with the task of planning, managing
orcontrolling the 9 environmental resources
of States with a view to enhancing
environmental quality.

Principle 18 National capacity

building science &
technology
Science
and technology, as part of their
contribution to economic and social development,
must be applied to the identification, avoidance
and control of environmental risks and the
solution ofenvironmental problems and for the
common good of mankind.

Principle 19
Environmental

education
Education
in environmental matters, for the
younger generation as well as adults, giving due
consideration to the underprivileged, is essential
in order to broaden the basis for an enlightened
opinion and responsible conduct by individuals,
enterprises and communities in protecting and
improving the environment in its full human
dimension. It is also essential that mass media
ofcommunications avoid contributing to the
deterioration of the environment, but, on the
contrary, disseminates information of an
educational nature on the need to project and
improve the environment in order to enable man

Principle 20
Dissemination of
environmental

Scientific
research and
development in the
knowledge
and
context of environmental problems, both national
technologies
and
multinational, must be promoted in all
countries, especially the developing countries. In
this connection, the free flow of up-to-date
scientific information and transfer of experience
must be supported and assisted, to facilitate the
solution of environmental problems;
environmental technologies should be made
available to developing countries on terms which
would encourage their wide dissemination without
constituting an economic burden on the

Principle 21 Good
neighborliness
States have, in accordance with the Charter of
the United Nations and the principles
ofinternational law, the sovereign right to exploit
their own resources pursuant to their own
environmental policies, and the responsibility to
ensure that activities within their jurisdiction
orcontrol do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or of areas beyond
the limits ofnationaljurisdiction. (Also known as
the no harm principle)

Principle 22
Compensation to
victims of
environmental
damage
States
shall cooperate to develop
further the
international law regarding liability and
compensation for the victims of pollution and
other environmental damage caused by activities
within the jurisdiction or control of such States to
areas beyond theirjurisdiction. (Principle of
responsibility or liability for environmental
damage)

Principle 23
Acknowledgement of
national systems and
standards
Without prejudice to such criteria as may be
agreed upon by the international community,
or to standards which will have to be
determined nationally, it will be essential in
all cases to considerthe systems of values
prevailing in each country, and the extent of
the applicability of standards which are valid
for the most advanced countries but which
may be inappropriate and ofunwarranted
social cost for the developing countries.

Principle 24
International
Cooperation
International matters concerning the
protection and improvement of the
environment should be handled in a
cooperative spirit by all countries, big and
small, on an equal footing. Cooperation
through multilateral or bilateral arrangements
or other appropriate means is essential to
effectively control, prevent, reduce and
eliminate adverse environmental effects
resulting from activities conducted in all
spheres, in such a way that due account is
taken of the sovereignty and interests of all

Principle 25 Support
to international
organizations
States
shall ensure that international
organizations play a coordinated, efficient and
dynamic role for the protection and
improvement of the environment.

Principle 26
Protection against ill
effect of nuclear &
others weapons of
Man and his
environment must be spared the
mass
destruction

effects of nuclear weapons and all other

means ofmass destruction. States must strive
to reach prompt agreement, in the relevant
international organs, on the elimination and
complete destruction of such weapons